Farm bills mock cost cutting

3:46 PM,
Jul. 30, 2013

Written by

USA TODAY

For many years, rural and urban lawmakers in Washington formed an unusual alliance. Urban representatives supported farm subsidies in exchange for rural support of food stamps. Predictably, this backscratching arrangement resulted in both programs becoming bloated.

This month, in a break with tradition, the House passed its version of a farm bill without including any money for food stamps (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), ostensibly to rein in waste.

But that's not what's happening. The House bill retains lavish subsidies for an agriculture sector that ...